Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 cup room temp butter 
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1  large room temp egg
  • 1  tsp almond extract
  • 6 oz milk chocolate chunks (divided)
  • 1/2 cup chopped roasted pistachios (divided)
  • 2/3 cup maraschino cherries (divided)

Recipe

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease a 9×9” square baking pan and set aside.
  3. Lightly chop the pistachios, chocolate, and half of the cherries, reserving the rest to top after baking.
  4. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  5. With a hand or standing mixer, cream together butter and sugars until well combined - about 3 minutes.
  6. Add the egg and almond extract to the butter / sugar mixture and beat until combined.
  7. Add dry ingredients and beat until just barely combined.
  8. Add chocolate, cherries, and pistachios and mix until evenly distributed. You'll want to save some chocolate to press into the top before it bakes.
  9. Press the dough into the prepared baking pan and top with extra chocolate.
  10. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes. The edges should be brown and the top set.
  11. Immediately add the remaining cherries and pistachios to the top of the bars. We like to just halve the cherries and place them in the chocolate pools.
  12. Let the bars fully cool in the pan before serving.